1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to control systems for glassware forming machines and in particular to a finished product controller apparatus and method for monitoring and recording the performance of a glassware production line and the bottle inspection equipment operating thereon.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is known in the art of manufacturing glass containers, an individual section machine is used to form containers in production cavities by sets of iron molds. It has been found that when a particular cavitiy is producing a defective bottle, it would be desirable to identify the malfunctioning molds and select out all of those containers formed therein. To this end, many cavity identification devices and handling systems are known in the glassware forming art.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,175,236 and 4,230,266 issued to J. W. Juvinall both relate to a method and apparatus of cavity identification of the molds producing particular containers utilizing a concentric ring code molded in the bottom of the container. The code is read by measuring the variation of intensity of light reflected from the bottom of the container to a particular point. U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,219 issued to Pezzin et al. discloses a handling system for a cavity identification device wherein bottles are removed from a linear conveyor by a rotating starwheel so as to space the bottles apart and guide them sequentially over a cavity identification reader.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,158 issued to Fornaa discloses a bottle making machine with a plurality of inspection stations which provide information for rejecting defective bottles. Bottles to be inspected are conveyed single file past a series of inspection stations including a mold number reading device. The output from the inspection units and the mold number detector are combined to generate information on the type of fault as well as the mold number. This information can be processed and forwarded to the production personnel for information and possible corrective measures, as well as for display on a cathode ray tube device.